California needs to recreate redevelopment to take on the...

1of2A 1950s aerial view of Mission Rock Terminal and South Beach, what would become McCovey Cove and one of the state’s top redevelopment projects.Photo: California Historical Society

2of2Gov. Jerry Brown talks with reporters about the state budget during a news conference held in his Capitol office in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011. Later in the day Brown will meet with the mayors of several of the state's largest citiesto discuss his proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies to help solve the budget deficit.Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP

Mermaid bars. Golf courses. Strip malls. These are some examples of wasteful government spending that come to mind when redevelopment is mentioned. San Franciscans will also remember redevelopment’s inexcusable displacement of African Americans from the Fillmore neighborhood under the guise of “urban renewal” after World War II.

When Gov. Jerry Brown moved to scale back redevelopment in 2011 to balance budget deficits, and a state Supreme Court ruling dissolved redevelopment agencies, some rejoiced that this program had seen its last day.

But its checkered history and sensational headlines do not tell the whole story of redevelopment.

What was not appreciated about redevelopment was the significant funding it provided for affordable housing. In recent decades, with the lessons of the Fillmore firmly in mind, San Francisco and other responsible cities showed that the financial tools of redevelopment could be used to put a roof over peoples’ heads and to help improve their lives.

That’s why seven years after its demise, I am working with a diverse coalition of legislators to re-create the best of redevelopment through our new proposal, Assembly Bill 3037.

While redevelopment’s essential role in creating housing was not highlighted in the media, the loss of its funding has contributed to today’s housing crisis. California’s housing disaster has reached unprecedented levels, in part because redevelopment’s elimination led to a yearly loss of $1 billion in funding for low- and moderate-income housing. That foreshadowed a 14 percent rise in homelessness this past year alone.

Affordable housing developers lost one of their most important tools to build housing for our most vulnerable — housing the private market will never be able to construct on its own because significant subsidies are needed to keep housing affordable to low-income Californians. Redevelopment allowed local jurisdictions to redirect a portion of property tax growth — called tax increment — that would normally go to the state or other entities. Cities could bond against tax increment to get projects delivered quickly.

AB3037 will be different from the original redevelopment program on several fronts:

Housing and critical infrastructure are the target for this funding, not uses that were vulnerable to waste and corruption in the name of urban renewal.

Significant safeguards, including strong anti-displacement policies, detailed record-keeping requirements, independent annual audits, and harsh financial penalties for violations are included in the bill to protect future funding from spending abuses by new redevelopment housing and infrastructure agencies.

The amount the state can invest is capped to avoid the state budget deficits exacerbated by the former program. Any city’s new redevelopment effort will need to be approved by the state after a review to ensure plans are in line with California’s fiscal and climate goals.

Greenhouse-gas reduction, not urban blight, is the focus.

As we move through the legislative process, we welcome public feedback and thoughtful revisions to AB3037. In the context of the housing crisis, a reinvigorated redevelopment program with a focus on affordable housing is desperately needed.

We appreciate that every major Democratic gubernatorial candidate has committed to reviving a new version of redevelopment.

It will take a web of strategies to get out of this crisis:

•Increasing housing at all levels of affordability;

•Holding cities and counties accountable to building housing;

•Enacting strong tenant protections, and;

•Ending homelessness.

But as too many Californians live one paycheck away from eviction, we’re in a fight for the future of the Golden State — a future where Californians can live near where they work, where owning a home is not a pipe dream, and where we are not the most rent-burdened state in the nation.

We need to aggressively fund affordable housing by bringing back one of the best tools in the toolbox. We need a new redevelopment program that helps all Californians afford a place they can call home.

David Chiu, who represents San Francisco’s 17th Assembly District, is chair of the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee.